


Ushijima's Ending

by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead



Series: Memento Mori [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, another unhappy ending, death count: 6, depends on what you consider "the worst", still probably not the worst one?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:46:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead/pseuds/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ushijima achieves his goal. He has everything: the Circlets, power over all of the fae, and Sugawara at his side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ushijima's Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This is another unhappy ending (sorry)  
> (not sorry)

Daishou lunged to intercept Oikawa, only for Iwaizumi to slam into him and send him sprawling. Sugawara growled to himself and reached for his magic before he could stop himself, because he had to do  _something_. Magic burned through him, the remnants of the Circlet magic reacting with his own and sending waves of white-hot pain over him. He cried out and stumbled, almost catching himself. Futakuchi darted past him, shoving him farther off balance as he threw himself at Iwaizumi. Sugawara hit the ground, whimpering as the magic kept working its way through him. 

Oikawa closed in on Ushijima, ice daggers ready. 

But Daishou's interruption had cost him a few crucial seconds. 

Ushijima's eyes opened. An instant later, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were both on the ground, the magically induced pain that was Ushijima's specialty stronger and more agonizing than ever as the pair's screams mingled for several seconds. Then Ushijima released the magic, and Oikawa fell silent, hopelessness and defeat on his face. 

"So you were right," Ushijima commented. Daishou got to his feet and bowed. "Deal with the traitors, and you can have Futakuchi back." Daishou bowed once more, then turned to Oikawa and Iwaizumi and shocked them unconscious. Ushijima waited until Daishou and Futakuchi removed Oikawa and Iwaizumi, then knelt beside Sugawara, who lay where he had fallen. Suga stared up at Ushijima, fear and regret flickering in his gaze. Ushijima gently brushed his hair away from his face, then slid his arms beneath him and lifted Suga into his arms, cradling him against his chest. Sugawara whimpered, but didn't protest. After all, Ushijima had all four circlets, and Sugawara had no magic at all. "Koushi, I don't sense any magic in you," Ushijima murmured. Somehow, Ushijima saying it made it all come crashing down. 

Not only was he trapped in Ushijima's custody for the forseeable future, not only had Oikawa and Iwaizumi been hauled off unconscious, not only was Futakuchi back with Daishou, but Sugawara didn't even have any magic. 

He'd failed. Their plan had failed. And he didn't even have his magic, which might have given him some comfort, probably in the form of making it easier to hope for escape. 

Tears welled up in Suga's eyes, and Ushijima bent his head to kiss Suga's cheek. 

"Don't worry, Koushi. I'll take care of you," Ushijima assured him. "I'll protect you." Sugawara wanted to protest. That wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to be kept at Ushijima's side, didn't want to become Ushijima's Futakuchi. But without magic, with Oikawa's betrayal discovered, Sugawara didn't think he had any hope of avoiding that fate.

* * *

Daishou smirked to himself when he led Futakuchi into their room. Futakuchi was his again. 

"Suguru, I-"

"You did well, Kenji," Daishou assured him. Futakuchi relaxed instantly, and Daishou's smirk became a smile as he rested his hands on Futakuchi's hips and pulled him closer. He tilted his head and kissed Futakuchi's mouth softly, a short, sweet kiss that from anyone else might have been loving. "I saw you go after Iwaizumi. That was very brave of you." He released Futakuchi's hips and picked up his hands, lifting them and turning them so he could kiss the soft, sensitive skin on the insides of his wrists. "However, you were away from me for a while. And I need to remind Ushijima and Sugawara and even you, Kenji, that you're  _mine_." Futakuchi tensed, only just barely managing not to try to jerk his hands back from Daishou, who noticed the sudden tension and instinctive urge to pull away anyway. "See? It hasn't even been that long, but you almost pulled away from me just now. I obviously need to remind you who you belong to."

"I belong to you, Suguru, I know that," Futakuchi replied, trying to correct the mistake of almost pulling away by pressing closer. Daishou, still holding Futakuchi's wrists, pushed the earth fae's hands behind his back and formed lightning magic cuffs to keep them there. Futakuchi trembled, feeling the electricity flicker over his skin, threatening pain if he so much as breathed in a way Daishou didn't like. 

"I know you do," Daishou murmured. "But I'm still going to make sure that knowledge is ingrained in you do deeply you'll never doubt it." 

* * *

Oikawa woke with lightning cuffs around his wrists, holding his arms over his head and keeping him attached to the wall. Iwaizumi was nearby, but not close enough to touch. 

"I'm sorry," Iwaizumi rasped, having noticed that Oikawa was conscious. Oikawa started to assure him there wasn't anything to apologize for, but Iwaizumi kept talking. "I promised I would do whatever it takes to get you away from Ushijima. And I promised Akaashi that if we lost, if Ushijima became king..." Iwaizumi's voice trailed off and he bowed his head.

"Akaashi asked you to kill me, didn't he?" Oikawa murmured. Iwaizumi nodded quietly. "It's okay. I don't want to die, so don't beat yourself up about not killing me." Iwaizumi shifted and grimaced. 

"I promised," he said. "I swore to Akaashi that I would." Oikawa's eyes flew wide. 

"No," Oikawa whispered. "No, no. You can't...you can't die just because you didn't kill me." 

"I don't think it works like that," Iwaizumi growled. A bead of sweat trailed from his temple down to his jaw. "Hey, Oikawa. Tooru," he corrected himself, deciding that if he was going to die for not killing his lover, he was at least going to call him by his given name before he died. "It'll be okay. If I die, they can't use me against you."

"Hajime, don't you dare," Oikawa snapped, yanking on his restraints, straining toward Iwaizumi. "Don't you dare just give up and die."

"Like I said, I don't think it works like that," Iwaizumi said with a humorless chuckle. Oikawa scowled at him and opened his mouth to snap at him again, but Iwaizumi suddenly stiffened, then arched his back, panting. His own magic was flaring and starting to burn him from the inside out.

"You're not supposed to be able to use magic in here," Oikawa protested. "Your magic shouldn't..."

"I guess an oath trumps the spells on this room," Iwaizumi replied through gritted teeth. He leaned forward, curling in on himself as the magic built up in his chest. Oikawa yanked on his restraints again. "Stop that," Iwaizumi hissed. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"I don't care. Hajime, please don't die," Oikawa pleaded. "Please, please don't leave me." Iwaizumi started to reassure him, or maybe to apologize, but his magic surged, and he screamed instead. Oikawa sobbed, throwing himself against the manacles stopping him from going to Iwaizumi's side. "Hajime, please. Please, please, don't." Iwaizumi's screams went on and on, accompanied by Oikawa's sobs and choked pleas. 

Not that it did any good. 

Iwaizumi had no control over whether or not his magic burned him alive from the inside out. 

* * *

Ushijima looked out over the gathered crowd, which consisted of as many fae from all four Courts as he could fit into the Winter Palace's courtyard. On his right stood Daishou, and on his left knelt a shaking Sugawara. Ushijima rested his hand on top of Suga's head, letting his fingers trail over the soft locks until they reached the cold metal of the delicate circlet that rested on his head. There was no magic in the circlet, or in most of the other jewels that decorated Sugawara's clothes. The exception was the ornate necklace that covered Sugawara's neck in delicate trailing chains and jewels and was really just a collar disguised as decoration. There was magic in the collar, a spark of electricity that tickled the skin beneath the metal just enough to remind Suga of the consequences if he didn't behave exactly the way Ushijima told him to. There was a bit of magic in the thin, decorative chains weighing down his wings, too, as an additional warning.

"Are you ready?" Daishou asked quietly. At his side, Futakuchi knelt quietly, his own formal attire highlighting not only the scars wrapping around his neck, but also the newer ones on his wrists. Ushijima glanced at his newly named second in command and nodded before stepping forward. 

"I, Ushijima Wakatoshi, have obtained each of the Circlets belonging to the four Courts of the Fae. As such, I have declared myself to be the new Fairy King. For those who cooperate, there will be a new era of peace and cooperation. For those who don't..." With a burst of air magic, Ushijima several the ties keeping the curtain hanging from the balcony he was standing on. Said curtain fell, revealing several pairs of wings hanging from the balcony. 

Semi's were blackened around the edges from Daishou's electricity. Akaashi's still bore the burn damage that Ushijima had inflicted before. Kenma's were bent and battered. Yahaba's were full of holes, as he'd thrown himself between Terushima and a barrage of icicles. Iwaizumi's, taken from his body after his own magic killed him, were a bit burned toward the point where they used to connect to his back, due to the heat of his fire magic as it burned him alive from the inside out.

Standing on the ground beneath the wings were Bokuto and Terushima, whose wings were weighed down with chains and who were silent, with empty, broken gazes that told the onlookers just how much pain they had experienced since Ushijima took on all four circlets. Unknown to the onlookers, Kuguri stood in the shadows nearby, ready to discipline either of them should one make a move he wasn't supposed to.

A ripple of astonishment, fear, anger, and hopelessness swept through the crowd. 

"My enforcers will be making their rounds to ensure everyone adjusts properly to King Ushijima's reign," Daishou added. Utter silence fell. Ushijima nodded in satisfaction, then turned and walked into the palace. Suga scrambled to follow him. Daishou followed Ushijima, Futakuchi standing and trailing after Daishou much more gracefully than Sugawara. 

"Are Terushima and Bokuto behaving?" Ushijima asked. "You haven't mentioned them in a few days, and I've been too busy to check on them myself."

"You saw how they didn't struggle just now," Daishou replied. "They're coming along nicely, and they've been excellent training targets for Kuguri and the other young enforcers."

"Good. Unfortunately, I haven't had as much luck with the traitor," Ushijima sighed. "Iwaizumi's death shook him, but he's so convinced that if he provokes me enough, I'll execute him the way I did his friends, that he refuses to let any of the punishments I've given him affect his behavior."

"Maybe we should have kept one of them alive," Daishou mused. "You could punish them instead, and that might work."

"Are you suggesting I made a mistake in executing them all?" Ushijima asked, eyes narrowed. Sugawara flinched, and Futakuchi fixed his gaze on the floor.

"Of course not," Daishou answered easily. There was a pause, and then he added, "Maybe we can still use others against him. Oikawa never liked hurting people, directly or indirectly. Oikawa used to be friends with some of the former Autumn fae, right? Like those two healers Tendou used after I punished Iwaizumi. Maybe if we use those two, Oikawa will be more cooperative."

"That's a good idea," Ushijima mused. "Fetch them." Daishou bowed, then beckoned to Futakuchi and left, the earth fae on his heels. "Koushi, are you all right?" Sugawara jumped. 

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked hastily. Ushijima frowned and moved forward, crowding Sugawara against the wall. 

"Don't lie to me, Koushi. You're  _mine._  I noticed you weren't paying attention when I left the balcony, and you had to scramble to catch up." Ushijima leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of Suga's mouth. "What was on your mind?" Ushijima's hands rested on Suga's waist as he pulled back enough to study Suga carefully. 

"It's the new collar," Suga said, only half lying. He hated the collar, hated the way the cool metal never seemed to warm against his skin, hated the way the dangling jewels slid when he moved, hated the constant weight that reminded him that he was nothing more than a trophy, a symbol of Ushijima's power. But he'd also been thinking about how much he wished his wings were hanging alongside Semi's and the others', for so many reasons, one of which was that Ushijima had successfully extended his influence to all three other Courts  _and_ the solitary fae. No one was safe anymore. 

"The collar?" Ushijima repeated, lifting one hand to trace the top edge of the intricate necklace that marked Sugawara as his. "I know it will take some getting used to, but you adjusted to the wing chains so nicely. You'll get used to the collar," Ushijima assured him. Sugawara forced a smile and hoped desperately that it looked reassuring. 

"Of course I will," he agreed. Ushijima smiled and leaned down to kiss him. 

"That's my Koushi," he murmured against Sugawara's lips. Sugawara did his best to pretend the shiver that ran through him was from excitement rather than fear. 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Aftermath notes:  
> 1\. Sugawara becomes just as devoted to Ushijima as Futakuchi is to Daishou, and eventually rules at his side as a mix of trophy and almost an additional second in command.  
> 2\. Hanamaki becomes Ushijima's personal healer and Matsukawa becomes Daishou's. That way Makki and Mattsun can be used to force Oikawa to cooperate, because he was friends with them waaaaay back before he joined the Winter Court, and they were friends with Iwaizumi for years.  
> 3\. Kuroo is dead, too, but since he didn't have wings left to display, his aren't mentioned.  
> 4\. Again, this is an ending where no one is happy except Ushijima and Daishou.


End file.
